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The BlackBerry Crumble may have saved lives: that’s the positive spin.

A report in the National newspaper of Abu Dhabi says traffic accidents fell by 20 per cent in Dubai during the outage and by 40 per cent in Abu Dhabi – which the National claims has been “directly linked to the three-day disruption in BlackBerry services”.

Such reductions in accidents have not been reported elsewhere and it remains to be seen whether the Emirate’s claim is a unique one or an anomaly. But the Emirate’s authorities are unequivocal:

“Absolutely nothing has happened in the past week in terms of killings on the road and we’re really glad about that,” Brig Gen Al Harethi, director of the Abu Dhabi police traffic department, told the newspaper. “People are slowly starting to realise the dangers of using their phone while driving. The roads became much safer when BlackBerry stopped working.”

And they could remain so if BlackBerry users are shocked into a change of behaviour. Maha Khoubieh, a Syrian resident in Abu Dhabi said she “found it really hard not to” look at her BlackBerry while driving but that the drop in accidents and fatalities had shocked her.

“It’s quite scary to see how much a phone can affect our lives,” she said. “I definitely think that from now on, my BlackBerry will stick to the inside pocket of my handbag and we should all be able to do our part to improve the safety of our roads.”

And less conscientious BlackBerry-users might be forced to face up to their responsibilities. Gen Tamim, Dubai’s police chief, warned the National’s readers that police would soon be using electronic evidence against drivers involved in accidents while using their smart devices.

“We have the capability to know who sent what when, and if an accident occurs while someone was messaging we will prove it and present the electronic evidence to the Public Prosecutor, and charge the driver with the costs of retrieving that evidence,” he said.

Worldwide, RIM, which makes BlackBerrys, is compensating its customers for the outage by giving them more than $100′s worth of apps each. Presumably this one and others like it will be top of the list.

Related reading:
BlackBerry says sorry with $100 in apps, FT
Where were you for the great BlackBerry Crumble? FT